I’ll Waltz Before I Go – Lyrics

I know the way to the edge of the forest
I know just where the crow flies
Find my way off the beaten path
I know just where the pond lies
And if you’ll just follow me you’ll see

So many years spent hanging in the distance
Without a clue to the way
Stumbling on eyes closed to the truth
Loneliness is the darkness
Now you are my beacon in the night

How long it took to find this
I do not know
But since we’ve stumbled on it
We can finally watch the ducks float by

Autumn is in the summer breeze
Just a hint but still there
A bit of soil, some brown and orange leaves
Tales of things to come
Time is not an anchor but a wave

It’s the time we can sit by the water
That makes it all stand still
Gazing at reflections on the surface
Holding them in our minds
To have when we’re a million miles away

How long it took to find this
I do not know
But since we’ve stumbled on it
We can finally watch the ducks float by, float by

2. FORWARD OR BACK – words and music by Lisa Brigantino

We’re all on a journey
Sometimes we get off track
Find we’re standing on the corner
Of forward or back

We all face the crossroads
That can go this way or that
While standing on the corner
Of forward or back

Only you can decide
Who you’re going to serve
Wishing for the courage
And hoping for the nerve

To make the choice you know
Won’t leave you tethered and trapped and
Standing on the corner
Of forward or back

Only you can decide
Who you’re going to serve
Wishing for the courage
And hoping for the nerve

To make the choice you know
Won’t leave you tethered and trapped and
Standing on the corner
Of forward or back
Standing on the corner
Of forward or back

3. MONDAY COMES TOO SOON – words and music by Lisa Brigantino

Sunday flies like a bird on the wing and Monday comes too soon
With one breath the song is sung and the playtime’s done
We’ve no time for one more game

Used to be so easy to see the stars in the evening sky
Now they’re clouded over and cannot be seen for
Anxiety turns our faces to the ground

And all these things keep on pounding in your mind
Keeping you awake and
Just when you think you can finally let go
Monday has arrived

Thoughts and dreams and silly schemes, they tell you to put them away
Face the real world on your own two feet
But some times I think those are the only real things to me

So I look to the children because they know
the things I conveniently forget
They still laugh with the sun and sing to the moon and I
Pray that no one tells them Monday comes too soon.

And all these things keep on pounding in your mind
Keeping you awake and
Just when you think you can finally let go
Monday has arrived
Just when you think you can finally let go
Monday has arrived

4. MAKE UP YOUR MIND – words and music by Lisa Brigantino

I was wrong to leave you crying
I was wrong to leave you sad
Now you want me to stay
You want me to go
Oh, baby, make up your mind

I’ve come so far to say I’m sorry
And I’m wearing my heart out on my sleeve
You want me to stay
You want me to go
Oh, baby, make up your mind

It’s a crazy world that we live in
Don’t know what you got until it’s gone
And the days go by and the tears come down
There’s a great big hole in your soul

I’ve come so far
I’m begging you please
Won’t you take my heart
It’s yours to keep
Now you want me to stay
You want me to go
Oh, baby, make up your mind

It’s a crazy world that we live in
Don’t know what you got until it’s gone
And the days go by and the tears come down
There’s a great big hole in your soul

I’ve come so far
I’m begging you please
Won’t you take my heart
It’s yours to keep
Now you want me to stay
You want me to go
Oh, baby, make up your mind
Youwant me to stay
You want me to go
Oh, baby, make up your mind

5. ESTHER – words and music by Lisa Brigantino

We all thought she was crazy
But no one knew her at all
We only saw her from the outside
A strange old lady nothing more

In a broken down house on the corner
She lived with her husband and her dog
She’d walk through the town talking to herself
Searching for treasures in the road

Esther what’s your story
Have your children come and gone
Do you find any comfort in those voices that you hear
Are they calling to come to lead you home
Are they calling to come to lead you home

Sometimes we’d see her with her husband
And watch them shuffle down the road
And marvel at what passed between them
A simple language all their own

Esther what’s your story
Have your children come and gone
Do you find any comfort in those voices that you hear
Are they calling to come to lead you home
Are they calling to come to lead you home

Did anybody ever care, see that they’re safe and they’re secure
Did anybody ever stop and reach out
Did anybody take the time, toss them a nickel or a dime
Did anybody ever dare

I went back to the village
To see if anything had changed
I drove by her house, Esther’s long been gone
It just didn’t seem the same

Esther what’s your story
Have your children come and gone
Do you find any comfort in those voices that you hear
Are they calling to come to lead you home
Are they calling to come to lead you home

We all thought she was crazy

6. FREE VERSE – words by Mark Thiel, music by Lisa Brigantino

There was this guy on the corner handing out free verse
So the authorities they locked him up tight in a jail
Just because there was a rule that day

No verse of any kind, P.S. especially free
Is what the law said quite specifically
So this guy in the cooler goes

Now how it happened I don’t know
But the verse, the man’s I mean
Slipped between the bars and somehow got put
On a train and a boat and a plane

And has been circulating ever since but you see
The vendor himself still rots somewhere
In a cell, lonely as can be

7. COOKIES & WHISKEY – words and music by Lisa Brigantino

You say you want a diamond ring and
All the things that money brings
A great big house a brand new car and more

You say you have to live a life
Full of pleasure not of strife
And you’ll get there with what you buy in stores

All of these things I can’t see
There’re just a few things I need, give me…

Cookies and whiskey, cookies and whiskey
Cookies and whiskey will do
Cookies and whiskey, cookies and whiskey
Cookies and whiskey and you

I’ve been ‘round this great big world
Seen it’s rubies, gold and pearls
But they just shine like ice and leave you cold

They can’t buy you happiness
Provide a life that’s free of stress
They can’t give you comfort when you’re old

All of these things I can’t see
There’re just a few things I need, give me…

Cookies and whiskey, cookies and whiskey
Cookies and whiskey will do
Cookies and whiskey, cookies and whiskey
Cookies and whiskey and you

What do you think ‘bout what I say
Does it make sense is it okay
Let me free you from the ties that bind (you)

To a life where every day
You run in an unending race
And everyone will leave you far behind

So won’t you walk the path with me
There’s just a few things I need, give me

Cookies and whiskey, cookies and whiskey
Cookies and whiskey will do
Cookies and whiskey, cookies and whiskey
Cookies and whiskey and you just give me

Cookies and whiskey, cookies and whiskey
Cookies and whiskey will do
Cookies and whiskey, cookies and whiskey
Cookies and whiskey and you, and you, and you

8. DON’T SAY IT AT ALL – words and music by Lisa Brigantino

Say it softly, say it quiet, say it sweetly, say it now
Say it once, no need to say it twice
Break it gently, break it easy, it’s just so hard to hear
Don’t you know these words, they burn like ice

And every star that’s in the sky
Will ask me for my wish tonight
And as my heart leaps and falls
I pray please, please don’t say it at all

I’m not asking for a reason, I don’t want you to explain
If I can’t keep you here, then you must fly
Silently I’ll wonder what it was we could have done
To spare us both this moment of our lives

And every star that’s in the sky
Will ask me for my wish tonight
And as my heart leaps and falls
I pray please, please don’t say it at all

Stay, stay

Take your pictures from the hallway, take the candles on the sill
Leave me one, I need some light tonight
I’ll stand here by the doorway, watching as you go
With one last hope that you won’t leave my sight

And every star that’s in the sky
Will ask me for my wish tonight
And as my heart leaps and falls
I pray please, please don’t say it at all

And every star that’s in the sky
Will ask me for my wish tonight
And as my heart leaps and falls
I pray please, please don’t say it,
Please don’t say it at all.

9. WALLFLOWER – words and music by Lisa Brigantino

It’s just another Saturday dance
The couples walk by hand in hand
And then there are the lonely ones
That wish and hope for more

I’m just a flower on the wall
You’re the boy across the floor
And all you gotta do is ask
And I’d fall in love with you

And they say love is blind
And who am I to think I might
But I will steal your heart
Tonight
Tonight

I’ve seen you dance with those pretty girls,
Dressed to the nines their hair in curls
But they’ll leave you sad and blue
Their kindness isn’t true
I don’t have those fancy clothes and
I don’t have those lyric prose
But I have a heart that’s true
And I’d fall in love with you

And they say love is blind
And who am I to think I might
But I will steal your heart
Tonight
Tonight

Turn around don’t look away
I could be the one

So why don’t you take a chance
Ask this quiet girl to dance
You might be surprised to find
That she’ll fall in love with you
Yeah, I’ll fall in love with you

And they say love is blind
And who am I to think I might
But I will steal your heart
Tonight
Tonight

And they say love is blind
And who am I to think I might
But I will steal your heart
Tonight
Tonight
Tonight
Tonight

10. NOWHERE AT ALL – words by Felix Pappalardi, music by Lisa Brigantino

I’m that sailboat in the bottle, floating in the hall
I’m that jet plane in the poster, hanging on my wall
I’m that rolling stone in the stone fence, going nowhere at all

Since you’re gone I’m going nowhere at all
Since you’re gone I’m going nowhere at all

I’m those horses in the statue, standing by the stair
I’m that silver bird on my mantle, frozen in the air
I’m that rolling stone in the stone fence, goin’ nowhere at all

Since you’re gone I’m going nowhere at all
Since you’re gone I’m going nowhere at all

Right here in my hands I had it so good
I had it so good I didn’t know it
Right here in my bones I felt it so good
But damn my prideful soul why couldn’t I show it

Like that sailboat in the bottle sailin’ in the hall
Like that jet plane in the poster flyin’ on my wall
Like that rolling stone in the stone fence, goin’ nowhere at all

Since you’re gone I’m going nowhere at all
Since you’re gone I’m going nowhere at all
Since you’re gone I’m going nowhere at all
Since you’re gone I’m going nowhere at all

11. LAST ONE TO LEAVE THE PARTY – words and music by Lisa Brigantino

I’m the last one to leave the party
Last one to stumble on home
I always stay ‘til the bitter end
Not knowing when to go

I’m the last one to find it’s over
Last one to call it a day
Try as I might, I can’t get it right
My welcome is overstayed

I wish I was like the others
Who cut their losses and run
I want to hear that little voice
Tell me my time in the sun has come

Someday I’ll know the answers
Someday I’ll heed the call
The last one to leave the party
Will be the first one after all

I wish I was like the others
Who cut their losses and run
I want to hear that little voice
Tell me my time in the sun has come

Someday I’ll know the answers
Someday I’ll heed the call
The last one to leave the party
Will be the first one after all
Will be the first one after all
Will be the first one after all

12. I’LL WALTZ BEFORE I GO – words and music by Lisa Brigantino

What really matters in this little life
Cannot be counted or saved
It’s all about the times that we’ve shared
All of the love that we gave

When it winds down and that evening is near
I’d like to lift a glass
Take one last bow to this marvelous earth
Give thanks to all that has passed.

Though it may seem that the day will not come
It’s here before you know
I don’t know what’s coming but one thing’s for sure
I’ll waltz before I go
I will waltz before I go

I want to leave with my hand on the door
Pulling it gently behind
Walk down that path with no fear in my heart
Leaving is all part of life

I only hope that I’ve done my part
While I’ve lived a life that’s been grand
That I’ve given comfort when times they were tough
That I stopped to reach out my hand

Though it may seem that the day will not come
It’s here before you know
I don’t know what’s coming but one thing’s for sure
I’ll waltz before I go
I will waltz before I go

All that I ask when you bid me farewell
Don’t let your sorrow take hold
Think of me fondly whenever you laugh,
Or a story of kindness is told.

Though it may seem that the day will not come
It’s here before you know
I don’t know what’s coming but one thing’s for sure
I’ll waltz before I go
I will waltz before I go
I will waltz before I go

13. FIVE FOOT TWO, EYES OF BLUE – music and lyrics by
Ray Henderson, Samuel M. Lewis, Joseph Young

Five foot two, eyes of blue
Oh what those five feet could do
Has anybody seen my gal

Could she love, could she coo
Could she coochy coochy coo
Has anybody seen my gal

And when you walk into a five foot two all covered with fur
Diamond rings and all those things
Bet your life it isn’t her

Could she love, could she coo
Could she coochy coochy coo
Has anybody seen my gal